Date/Time
Date(s) - January 25, 2014 - April 4, 2014
10:00 am - 6:00 pm

Location
Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, University Center for the Arts


January 25 – April 4, 2014

Innovators and Legends: Generations in Textiles and Fiber was organized for national tour by the Muskegon Museum of Art, located in Michigan, and guest curator Geary Jones. Participating artists are among the finest in the field of fiber art. Beginning with artists active in the 1960s—and Katherine Westphal from the 1940s—Innovators and Legends uses the art as a framework for exploring the recognition of fibers as fine art and the innovations that have occurred in the field. As each generation of artists in this exhibition pushed the boundaries of tradition, they enabled subsequent artists to expand further, challenging the very nature of fiber arts. Internationally celebrated artists such as Gerhardt Knodel, Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, Tom Lundberg, Nancy Crow, and Sherri Smith recommended peers and former students for inclusion, establishing a base of teaching and reciprocal inspiration upon which to build the exhibition.

Among the artists featured are Katherine Westphal who pioneered these explorations in the 1940s through contemporary art world notables, Nick Cave, whose sound suits are in major museum collections throughout the country, and Mark Newport, who will be in residence during the exhibition as part of our Critic and Artist Residency Series.  Former Colorado State students and staff members Ilze Aviks, Sara Rockinger, Amy Clarke Moore, Jiseon Lee Isbara, and Warren Seelig are also included, as is Fort Collins resident Carol Shinn.  This exhibition and related programs are supported by the FUNd at CSU, the Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Fund, and Colorado Creative Industries.

The exhibition will be accompanied by several interpretive programs.  Chief among these is a week-long residency with artist Mark Newport.  Newport is the head of fibers at the Cranbrook Institute of Arts, the renowned art school dedicated to design.  Newport is known for his knitted superhero costumes and beaded images of sports figures that challenge gendered stereotypes about the use of fibers.  Newport’s visit and residency is part of the Critic and Artist Residency Series, made possible by the FUNd at CSU.

  • Mark Newport’s lecture “Superheroes, Scars, and Rock and Roll” will take place on Monday, February 3, at 5:00 p.m. in the Griffin Concert Hall; reception to follow in the University Art Museum.

Additional programming will include Focus on Fiber Gallery Talk Series (all gallery talks take place in the University Art Museum)

  • Focus on Fiber: A Conversation with Mark Newport, Wednesday, February 5, 4 p.m.
  • Focus on Fiber: A Conversation with Sara Rockinger and Carol Shinn, Wednesday, February 26, 4 p.m.
  • Focus on Fiber: A Conversation with Amy Clarke Moore, Wednesday, March 26, 4 p.m.

This exhibition and related programs are supported by the FUNd at CSU, the Lilla B. Morgan Memorial Fund, and Colorado Creative Industries.